On Monday, we showed you Katy Lloyd and her daughters at Jefferson Square Safeway, kicking off a 10-hour diaper drive for WestSide Baby that Katy organized as part of National Day of Service, with other volunteers taking the baton later in the day. Late last night, she sent us word of final results (and gratitude):

Well, after a day that has been just unbelievably good in so many ways, I can add one more thing: the final count from our Westside Baby Diaper Drive on Monday brought in a grand total of 10,000 diapers! Executive Director Nancy Woodland tells me this was one of the best diaper drives they’ve ever had aside from their huge Stuff the Bus event in July. Thanks to the Diaper Drive they will be able to serve the needs of 400 children. I can’t tell you how many people told me they came by after seeing it posted on the blog.

Thank you for providing a way for our community to do what communities do best-helping one another. Thanks to Safeway Manager Dave Dupuy for supporting the drive, making announcements in the store all day long, and for being so helpful. Thanks to Liberty Bell Printing for providing free services for our effort. Thanks to the volunteers (the big ones and the little ones) who stood in the cold, handed out fliers to shoppers, and carted loads of diapers here and there. Most of all, thanks to the generous people of West Seattle, who on Martin Luther King Day helped make his vision of a just world more real by putting a smile on a baby’s face.

A diaper can’t change the world, but it can change a sad baby into a happy baby, and for families stressed by lack of affordable housing, health care, and low incomes, a happy baby can make a world of difference. So, maybe a diaper can change the world after all.

Deeply grateful,
Katy Lloyd

You of course don’t have to wait for the next diaper drive to help WestSide Baby; its website offers lots of suggestions for how to do that any time. And we’ll continue to share news of opportunities to help your West Seattle neighbors and the organizations working hard to make lives better.